Armchair Commando

IMO the perfect spotter would have the following features:
12-60x (down to 12 to help fight mirage)
High end glass (Leica, Swaro, Kowa)
Binocular eyepiece
A lit tree reticle that can be turned off
I’d suggested this idea to an insider here on the Hide and he suggested that it would cost too much and market is too limited.
Do you agree?

Sergeant of the Hide

IMO the perfect spotter would have the following features:
12-60x (down to 12 to help fight mirage)
High end glass (Leica, Swaro, Kowa)
Binocular eyepiece
A lit tree reticle that can be turned off
I’d suggested this idea to an insider here on the Hide and he suggested that it would cost too much and market is too limited.
Do you agree?

Why not just ask Kowa & Fujinon (Big Bino Mfgs.) to put a reticle in one lens in their Highlander & I-don't-know-the-name "big eye" binoculars and be, well, almost done with it. Because if that happens toss in a 1543nm laser rangefinder as well. And maybe a sales gimmick com'on sort of thing; throw in a free RRS heaviest duty carbon fiber 'pod & head to match... Yeah, you're right, I got too much time on my hands... And yes indeed--I did say 1543nm--did you hear that Zeiss & Henny?

Yeah. I looked at the BTX and the STR. Honestly, anymore I’m to the point that if a spotter doesn’t have a reticle and isn’t bino it’s not for me. Which means I won’t be buying anything else...@lowlight, do think there would be a market for such a beast?

Private

Only problem with the Swaro is that it has no low magnification range, which makes it hard to spot unknown/camo targets at unknown range. Its also a bit large for field use. You really do need the 12x low end to search for targets and also make it easy to transition from binoculars.

Probably the closest we have today is the Leupold 12-40x60 with the TMR reticle which is a great field scope, and the choice of most military snipers. Good reticle, good magnification range and field tough.

If someone made the 12-60x with good glass and a fine gradient milrad reticle in a compact package that was field tough, I would probably scoop one up. Not sure I need the binoc eyepiece (would make it quite large). A LRF would be cool, but adding a good one would drive the price up pretty high.

Armchair Commando

The Athlon 7-42 looks decent. Would love to compare the glass with some high end stuff.
I predict bino spotters will become
more of a thing as ELR becomes more and more popular and people get tired of spotting one eyed for long periods of time.

Who cares

Only problem with the Swaro is that it has no low magnification range, which makes it hard to spot unknown/camo targets at unknown range. Its also a bit large for field use. You really do need the 12x low end to search for targets and also make it easy to transition from binoculars.

Probably the closest we have today is the Leupold 12-40x60 with the TMR reticle which is a great field scope, and the choice of most military snipers. Good reticle, good magnification range and field tough.

If someone made the 12-60x with good glass and a fine gradient milrad reticle in a compact package that was field tough, I would probably scoop one up. Not sure I need the binoc eyepiece (would make it quite large). A LRF would be cool, but adding a good one would drive the price up pretty high.

Maybe not as wide a FOV difference as you think @ 500yard in realistic terms + really you should have binos for that primary search.

My old Leopold at 12x is about 84'​

My Swaro ATX @25x about 62'​

I think the STR @ 20x was about +1foot more than the ATX​

Yes, the 12x is slightly more than the Swaro at but not really earth shattering considering the benefit of higher magnification and better glass.

I run the ATX in 65 ocular because of the form factor for hunting. The reticles are great for teaching, but really not as good for everything. Personally I switched out from reticles in my spotters because todays rifles scopes being so good like the ZCO with 27x giving me everything I need for corrections as long as I can spot on the rifle. If I really need something more than that is for glassing (hunting) or for watching trace as far as I can. Spotters with reticles, but lower quality glass and lower magnifications do not help in those specific uses..

Teaching get the STR
Hunting hands down get the best glass, no reticle and a form factor you can carry\

Super Boot

IMO the perfect spotter would have the following features:
12-60x (down to 12 to help fight mirage)
High end glass (Leica, Swaro, Kowa)
Binocular eyepiece
A lit tree reticle that can be turned off
I’d suggested this idea to an insider here on the Hide and he suggested that it would cost too much and market is too limited.
Do you agree?

MarshallSportOptics

Honestly man, as many guys I've talked to about this, especially at competitions. The market for it would be so small. Granted Swarovski has the STR (milled reticle illuminated spotter) and the BTX (binocular spotting scope) but to combine the 2? Although I have had a couple of extreme long range shooters special make a mount to place 2 STRs side by side and it was a unicorn for sure. It was crazy to see one. But I think you would at least be at a 6-7k price point probably. Though I'm not bashing your idea, I would love to see that happen!

Student of the Bolt Action Rifle

I have just started looking at spotting scopes myself. The Nikon Momarch 82ED-A W/FS- MRAD looks interesting. It's not cheap, buts not in the high end category. I think I read that Frank was using one at some of his classes. Any thoughts plus or minus on this spotter.

Philanthropist

That's a tough call, we do have a few options, but the long range shooting market is so tiny, and the benefits of dial elevation scopes and such are still very slow to trickle into the hunting world, and a reticle spotter is probably well behind that for the masses. I think that's the only hope aside military contract that would generate such items. I mean I'd love to have an STR body to replace my STS HD, but not enough to drop $3500 on one.

Seems like an easier more cost effective win would be to make eyepieces with reticles in them for spotters that use separate eyepieces. Though I'd guess the downside with those is they are going to be locked into one power, though that would improve optical quality some. I'd happily buy a $300-$500 eyepiece for my STS that was in the fixed 20x range with equivalent quality glass to my 20-50w eyepiece.

The other issue is that it seems like for reticle/tactical use, many times the glass quality is lower, and that might be fine for that use case, but for hunting you really want the absolutely best optical quality, so guys are not going to want to pay say $1500, for what is really a $750 spotter optically just because it has a reticle in it. We see it over and over on reticle spotter reviews that the glass is good enough for long range shooting, but not amazing.

Sergeant of the Hide

Why not just ask Kowa & Fujinon (Big Bino Mfgs.) to put a reticle in one lens in their Highlander & I-don't-know-the-name "big eye" binoculars and be, well, almost done with it. Because if that happens toss in a 1543nm laser rangefinder as well. And maybe a sales gimmick com'on sort of thing; throw in a free RRS heaviest duty carbon fiber 'pod & head to match... Yeah, you're right, I got too much time on my hands... And yes indeed--I did say 1543nm--did you hear that Zeiss & Henny?

Sniper’s Hide is a community of Snipers of all kinds, focusing on long range shooting, accuracy, and ballistics. Founded by Frank Galli in 2014, Sniper’s Hide has been offering informational videos, podcasts, and other support to it’s users in one location.